International

• Monday, April 23rd 2012 - 09:16 UTC

  Hollande wins first round in France and leads comfortably for the run-off

  

  French President Nicolas Sarkozy faces an uphill struggle in the second round of the presidential election, after coming second in Sunday's first vote. He won only 27.1% of the vote, while his socialist rival Francois Hollande took 28.6%, the first time a sitting president has lost in first round. Third-place Marine Le Pen took the largest share of the vote her far-right National Front has ever won with 18.1%.

• Sunday, April 22nd 2012 - 23:06 UTC

  G77 plus China present Argentina with the Malvinas statement denied by the Americas Summit

  

  Representatives from the Group of 77 plus China meeting in Doha, Qatar approved a statement calling on the UK to resume negotiations with Argentina regarding the sovereignty of the Malvinas question, according to a release from the Argentine Foreign Ministry.

• Sunday, April 22nd 2012 - 23:01 UTC

  Argentine seizure of YPF will be addressed at the June G20 meeting in Mexico

  

  The Argentine government decision to nationalize Spain’s Repsol owned YPF will be discussed in June in Los Cabos, Mexico, during the G-20 summit.

• Saturday, April 21st 2012 - 07:36 UTC

  Fitch warns Argentina on “growing diplomatic isolation” and “investment shortages”

  

  In an article posted on the Fitch Wire credit market commentary page the rating agency slammed Argentina for its government’s decision to seize a majority stake in YPF from Spain’s Repsol as announced by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on Monday.

• Saturday, April 21st 2012 - 07:31 UTC

  Astori tells Spanish businesses “Uruguay, an attractive and safe” country for investors

  

  Vice president Danilo Astori currently on a business trip to Spain described Uruguay as an “attractive and safe” country to invest given its macroeconomic solidness, strength of its institutions and stimuli for investors, both domestic and from overseas.

• Saturday, April 21st 2012 - 07:13 UTC

  EU parliament deplores YPF seizure; calls for an end to Argentina trade preferences

  

  The European parliament ‘deplored’ the Argentine government decision to expropriate a majority control in the YPF hydrocarbons corporation - which is owned by Spanish energy company Repsol- and called for the suspension of Argentina's tariff concessions under Europe's so-called generalised system of preferences (GSP). In a resolution, the House also urges Argentina to ”return to the path of dialogue and negotiation”.

• Saturday, April 21st 2012 - 07:07 UTC

  Emerging powers committed to IMF but insist on less European predominance

  

  Major emerging powers stood ready on Friday to pledge money to bolster the International Monetary Fund's crisis-fighting war chest, though Brazil was holding out for promises that their voting power at the global lender would increase.

• Saturday, April 21st 2012 - 04:14 UTC

  In France it’s Hollande or Sarkozy, but eyes are set on hard left/right votes

  

  Socialist presidential frontrunner Francois Hollande appealed to French voters to throw out conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and shun the far right in a final push for working-class votes before Sunday's first round of the election.

• Saturday, April 21st 2012 - 04:03 UTC

  Argentina minimizes impact of Spain’s first retaliatory measures

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández minimized Spain’s decision to reduce the bio-diesel imports as a retaliation over the expropriation of YPF and called for “calm” after assuring that Argentina “is in condition to absorb” that production in the domestic market.

• Saturday, April 21st 2012 - 03:56 UTC

  IMF says YPF dispute is a “bilateral affair” and decision of “a sovereign nation”

  

  Argentina managed a first point in the diplomatic dispute with Spain over the nationalization of YPF when the IMF decided to call the conflict a “bilateral affair” and “a decision of a sovereign nation”.